Joy and husband, Hunter, had moved their family from the cold-wintered north to the mild-wintered south.

“It’s funny to have Christmas without snow,” said Joy.

“It’s what we wanted,” said Hunter.

“It’s not the same,” whined the three kids.

“We have to have a real tree, and not an artificial one,” said Joy.

So a real tree was bought and placed inside. They covered it with artificial snow out of a can, and dressed it with piles of ornaments. They hung candy canes all over it. And lights!

It’s amazing what a real tree can hide. The next morning a huge stick insect was on the back of the armchair next to the tree. There were earwigs crawling around the tree’s skirt. Spider webs had been spun from Christmas ball to Christmas bauble. A million ants had invaded the tree and the candy canes were alive with candy-loving crawling creatures.